Tough on the Outside
by Mozer
Summary: A new girl moves in with Shigure. Haru can't stop wondering why this rebellious girl has caught his attention. HaruXOC Rated T for safety.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: This is the preface, so it's rather short. Also, I don't really know what's going to happen after this, so the next chapter will be awhile. *sweatdrop* Sorry. And I'm only on #6 of the manga, but I'm working on it!!! Sorry! I don't know why I'm apologizing. If you don't like the story, you don't have to read it.**

**This is my first story I've posted on here, so please be merciful!!! I will accept help if people have tips. And also, since I'm new to Fruits Basket, correct me if I make a terrible mistake. That's all for now!**

**I do not own fruits basket or any of the characters from it.**

**5-10-09  
I just realized that somewhere in the downloading, there were a few lines that got cut out. Sorry if you read it and it didn't make sense. I'll look over my stories before I post them from now on.**

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Thump-thump. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

The sound of my feet hitting the ground matched up perfectly with the rhythm of my heart.

I had to keep running. There was no stopping. If I stopped, I might think about turning back. And there was no turning back now. I didn't even dare look behind me. They probably weren't following. And if they were, they wouldn't be able to catch me.

Dirt was kicked up every time my feet made contact with the ground. I had left the asphalt road far behind and was now running down a trail in the woods.

'You can make it! Almost there!' I thought to myself.

~~~~Flashback~~~~

I stood outside the door wondering if I should go in, or just make a run for it now. I might as well face his fury now. Taking a deep breath, I slid open the door and stepped across the threshold. I had barely taken two steps in when a voice boomed from the kitchen.

"There you are! Where have you been young lady?!"

I winced before turning and slinking into the kitchen. My mother was sitting at the table staring at its surface intently. My father was there too, standing up with his arms folded. A look of anger on his face that was only all too familiar to me. In the corner I saw my little brother, Riku, standing there. His smirk made me want to punch him in the face.

My father spoke again, "We received a call from your principal today. Do you know what it was about?"

I pretended to think for a moment. "Hmm… I made the honor roll and the school wants to have a celebration for me?"

A vein was now pulsing in his neck. "DO YOU THINK YOU'RE BEING FUNNY!? This is the third school you've been expelled from! We don't know what to do anymore. That's why we're sending you to a correctional school. Hopefully there they can straighten you out!"

I retaliated, "You think you can just send me somewhere and they can make me the perfect little girl? I get it, I'm a screw up and a disgrace as a daughter, but you can't tell me what to do! If you think I'm actually going there, you're crazy!"

"You don't have a choice! Your mother and I discussed this and - "

"Oh please, she didn't have any say in this," I looked at my mom sitting there looking solemn, "All you do is sit there and let him get whatever he wants. You don't even stand up for your own children! What kind of a mother are you?!"

My head was turned abruptly to the side. He had backhanded me across the face. It took a moment for the sharp burning pain to sink in. That would leave a bruise for sure. I felt a little trickle of blood flow down my temple. The smirk that had just been entertaining Riku's face was now gone. He looked genuinely frightened and was shrinking back further into the shadows.

"DO NOT INTERUPT ME! And how dare you talk to your mother like that!" Tears were streaming down her face. She knew what I had said was true, but she still wouldn't do anything about it. I picked a spot on the floor and stared at it intently.

My father wasn't done arguing just yet. "You will look at me when I am talking to you young lady!"

Mustering the patience, I slowly raised my head to look into his black outraged eyes. This was it, the breaking point. I couldn't take it anymore. I spit at his feet and, without hesitating, ran out the door.

~~~~End Flashback~~~~

It must have been miles now, that I had run. I could see it just up ahead. A little house through a break in the trees. Finally, I ran up to the front door and knocked on it before collapsing to my hands and knees. My breath came in short gasps. I had used up all my strength to get here. The door slid open and a boy with silver hair looked down at me.

"Can I help you?" he asked, very confused.

I couldn't stop my heavy breathing long enough to answer him. There came a gasp from inside. Looking just around the boy I saw Tohru, my cousin, standing there. She dropped whatever she was holding.

"Misora! What are you doing here? What happened?"

Then I blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Yuki looked down at this strange girl. When Tohru had recognized her as her cousin, Misora, he had picked her up and carried her over to the couch. She was in bad condition. It seemed as if she had run half-way across the country! Tohru immediately went to get supplies to clean and bandage the cut on her forehead. Misora stirred a bit, but didn't wake. He was left to watch over her while Tohru made some tea for when she woke up.

The family resemblance between Misora and Tohru was obvious. They both had the same color brown hair, though Misora cut hers shorter, about shoulder length. If it weren't for the bruise that now framed her sky blue eyes, they would look like sisters. There was a loud crash in the kitchen that worried Yuki enough to go check it out.

"Are you okay," he asked stepping into the kitchen.

Tohru picked up the glass she had dropped and said while looking embarrassed, "Yes. Everything in here is fine. I'm just a little clumsy. How is Misora?"

"She still hasn't woken up yet."

Tohru nodded sadly. "I'm worried about her. She doesn't get along with her family and I think she finally ran away… She's only a year younger then you and I."

Yuki couldn't help but wonder if the bruise on Misora's face was also the result of a family riff. Just then they heard the door open and Shigure say, "Well, well, well…"

Both of them left the kitchen to go greet him.

"I leave for a couple of hours and return home to find a beautiful girl sleeping on my couch?"

"Back off Shigure, Misora is Tohru's cousin," Yuki said.

Tohru explained the story of what had happened, "…And it's been about half an hour since she passed out."

"I see. I wonder if that bruise on her poor delicate face was caused by a fight in her family." Shigure voiced Yuki's thoughts from earlier.

Misora chose this moment to finally wake. She stretched a little then rubbed her eyes, stopping to feel the bandage by one of them.

"Where am I," she asked drearily.

Tohru immediately went over to her side, "Misora, it's me, Tohru. You ran all the way here. When we found you, you had a cut on your forehead and collapsed from exhaustion. We were hoping you could tell us what happened."

Misora touched her forehead again and groaned as she remembered.

"It was that bastard of a father of mine. I got expelled again and he threatened to send me to some correctional school or something. I rebuked, so he hit me. That was the final straw. I got out of there as fast as I could and came to the only place I could think of where I would be safe. Here. I'm sorry if I've been a burden on you, but I need a place to stay and I was wondering if -"

"Oh please Shigure! Please, please, please," Tohru begged, tears coming to her eyes as she looked up at the man with a pitiful expression.

He thought for a bit, then said, "Well, if you're going to beg like that… of course she can stay with us. I wouldn't leave her to wander the streets alone. There are dangerous men out there who would harm such a pretty girl."

Misora sat up, pausing a moment to steady herself. "Thank you very much! You've all been very kind to me. I promise not to be a problem. I'll even pay rent."

"You don't have to pay rent. We'll be happy to take care of you," said Shigure.

"Again, thank you for the offer, but I could never stay here at your expense. I can find a job. At least let me pay for my part of the groceries."

"Okay, but until you get a job, you pay nothing," Shigure said with finality.

"Deal," she said with a smile. She tried to stand up, but Shigure stopped her.

"Hold on missy. You were just passed out for half and hour. That's your bodies way of telling you it is worn out and needs to rest."

Misora protested, "But there is so much I need to do. I should find a job right away."

Tohru stepped in as the care taker, "You're not going anywhere until the doctor takes a look at you."

Misora groaned, "You didn't call the doctor did you?"

Tohru nodded, "Hatori is the Sohma family doctor. He is really good. I'm sure you'll love him. He'll make you feel better in no time!"

It wasn't a long wait before Hatori arrived. He performed the usual check up on the patient.

"She's a very healthy person, so she should recover very quickly."

"See, I told you I was fine!"

Hatori wasn't finished yet, "However, you pushed your body to its extremes. You do need to rest if you don't want to collapse again any time soon."

Misora grumbled a little bit and Hatori followed the others out of the room, so they could give her some peace and quiet. That's when he confronted them, "She had to have been hit very hard to receive a bruise like that. If it really was her father who did that, I don't think it's safe for her to return home. It seems as though she'll be staying here for awhile. Does she know about the curse?"

"No," Tohru said, "I've written letters to her telling her where I was and what you all were like, but I did not tell her about that. I promised you I wouldn't! Is it that hard to trust me?!"

Hatori gave them a bottle with pain medicine for her head. As he was just about to leave, Kyo arrived and joined the party.

"Whoa? Who died? What's everyone doing here?"

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It was decided that Misora would stay in Tohru's room. A mat was laid out on the floor for her.

"I'm sorry we don't have a bed for you yet. We'll get one as soon as we can!"

"Seriously," Misora said, "I don't want to make you guys work so hard for me. I'm just happy you all allowed me to stay in the house."

"I'm just trying to take care of my little cousin! Besides, I think Shigure has taken a liking to you because you're year of the dog."

Misora gave her cousin a strange look, "Why would he like my just because I'm year of the dog?"

"What? Oh, nothing, never mind. It's nothing…"

Kyo walked by on his way down the hallway from the bathroom. "Are you two going to stay up all night talking like girls at a sleepover?"

Tohru giggled, "Sorry if we were bothering you Kyo. We're going to go to sleep soon. Good-night!"

"Whatever…" Kyo mumbled going to his room.

Misora turned back to Tohru, "Wow. Everyone here is really like you say they are. I'll have to be careful not to get in the way of Mr. Grumpy Gills there."

Tohru laughed again, "Kyo's nice once you get to know him. It just takes some getting used to. Now, about school. Do you want us to register you at the school we go to?"

"I was hoping I could just not go to school," Misora groaned.

"But Misora! School is important! You have to go!"

"I know, I'll start next week."

"Yay," Tohru said, truly excited that the two girls would now be going to school together, "You can borrow my old school uniform. It probably fits you perfectly! Oh, and that reminds me. You left all your clothes at your old house, didn't you?. You can borrow some of my clothes until we can buy you some new ones. Wait 'til I tell everyone, we're going on a shopping trip! (Misora: 'Tohru! I need a job first! How am I going to pay for all of that!!!') Oh, there's so many cute outfit's we could buy you!!… All the boys will just oogle at you!…"

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Okay, so this one did go quicker then I thought it would. It's the next chapter that will be a longer wait because I have maybe five paragraphs in my head, then I'm stuck. I have absolutely no idea what is going to happen next. I hoping I have a dream or something that will inspire me soon.

Ha ha, I keep picturing what this would look like as an anime or manga. It's hilarious! What all their faces would look like and how they would say things. Ha ha!

I also love how Tohru thinks Misora's going to stay there forever. She starts talking about buying a bed and a whole new batch of clothes!

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

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